Tannuka Juneja
Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, informed that the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has made two Indian Standards pertaining to drinking water, namely, IS 10500:2012 on Drinking Water – Specification and IS 17482:2020 on Drinking Water Supply Management System – Requirements for Piped Drinking Water Supply.
BIS quality standards are not mandatory for civic agencies engaged in supplying drinking water to houses across the country.
Water Supply is a State subject and it is the responsibility of the state government/urban local bodies to plan, design, execute, operate and maintain the water supply systems.
Since August 2019, the Centre, in partnership with states, is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – Har Ghar Jal to make provision of potable tap water supply in adequate quantity, of prescribed quality on a regular and long-term basis to every rural household by 2024. Under Jal Jeevan Mission, as per existing guideline, IS 10500:2012 is to be adopted for ensuring safe drinking water supply and states/UTs have been advised to carry out testing of drinking water sources once a year for chemical and physical parameters and twice in a year for bacteriological parameters.
